In reality there is the other way in which contracts are signed - With very little background work and little clarity on the terms and conditions. And when there are problems, then begins the finger pointing and threats to walk out of the contract!
The third option is :
several months (or a year) later, the customer decide to say YES, I AGREE WITH IT.. and nobody really remember about this project, and several resources has been reassigned to other projects.
These things happen, In a project, it took such a long time to reach an agreement that when we signed contract 1/3 of the products outdated and it is a fearsome thing to tell that to the other side because we had to start process all over again......we just tell them at the end. :)
Unfortunately, the same goes for some companies in hiring candidates as well. I've had a 2 month communication with a company I interviewed with, and at the end, they decided that they were not even hiring for the position.